Longitude

  The Clock That Would Not Stop!

A Upton of San Antonio, 8/8/2016

This book is very interesting although it is more of a biography of the long struggle to find a correct way of finding your way on the ocean, which finally ended with the inventing of the chronometer, than a biography of John Harrison (who was a clockmaker). That said, this is a good book. Dava Sobel makes you feel the greed, pain, and general distain that is a crucial part of the life of the many scientists but felt most severely by John Harrison. These men worked hard against the seemingly impossible. The first half of the book is about the longitude problem (this was the problem of finding something reliable to use to find their way on the sea), and all the scientists who tried to fix this problem, while the second half is about John Harrison. This was a very serious problem because men could die if they got lost on the sea. If you are interested in inventors I would totally recommend this book for you, this book has no questionable content.